Cinematographic Motion & Serpentine Dance: Towards a Media Archaeology of Modern Dance (original) (raw)
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To the often-studied relationship between dance and cinema, kindred arts of the moving body-moving image, I propose to add an original analysis of the relationship between the sub-genres of historical dance (in particular the social and theatrical dances of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries) and period cinema. To that end, it is not only important to question the extent to which dance is merely illustrative, or serves as a narrative instrument in this type of films, but also how period cinema contributes to the construction of a historical memory of dance. There are several contexts that justify the introduction of a staged dance on film and they depend on a number of choices on the part of the artistic team. In period cinema these choices are particularly delicate, especially when the "world of the play" is relatively unconcerned with historical accuracy.
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This paper analyses the relationship between body and technology in the field of dance by proposing a reflection on the idea of what my collaborator, musician Fernando Iazzetta, and I call 'ambiguous zones'. Grounding my research in semiotics and the embodiment perspective, I discuss the role of technology in dance in the realm of digital culture in order to understand the implications of the establishment of new configurations in which body, dance, music, image and environment are used to challenge the dichotomies between mind/body, natural/artificial and real/virtual. Keywords Body Cognition movement real time immersion interactivity beyond discussions centered on such dichotomies as real/virtual, natural/artificial and nature/culture. We propose to work toward the edges of these terms in order to productively blur such polarities. The concept of 'ambiguous zones' understands environment as the place where new information emerges from the relationship among four principal features: the presence of dancers, the creation and interaction of sound and images during the performance, interaction with pre-existent images, and the interaction with the audience. 1 Grounding our ideas in Semiotics (C.S.Peirce 1931-1935) and Cognitive Science (embodiment perspective), we propose to discuss the role of new media in the dance field, how technology operates as an agent in this new configuration of dance, and what in the end makes the 'ambiguous zone' possible. The embodiment perspective in this essay is derived from ideas of the linguist George Lakoff and his collaborators Mark Johnson and Rafael E. Núñez. This view, also called Embodied Cognition Thesis, is compatible with the ideas of neurobiologist Francisco Varela and neurologist António Damásio, and is opposed to other views of cognition, such as Cognitivism, Computationalism, Connectionism and Cartesian Dualism. Lakoff and Johnson affirm that their theories 'promote a dialogue between philosophy and cognitive science and, ideally, they should co-evolve and mutually enrich each other' (1999:552). Their thinking re-examines basic concepts of mind and body and the traditional dualisms of the Western philosophical tradition. This aspect makes their theory relevant today, especially for the context of dance and its relationship to science and technology. Embodiment offers a strong theoretical approach to re-thinking physical performance in the arena of technological media and visual culture.